The collection and analysis of vapor phase analytes is employed in many environments and applications. One technique for the collection and analysis of analytes is to utilize tubes (metal or glass) that are filled with a packed bed of sorbent material of moderate to low surface area to trap a narrow range of vapor phase analytes. These sorbent tubes exhibit relatively high pressure drops due to the length of the tube and therefore require a relatively strong pump or air source to allow for the capture of a sample of analyte to provide an adequate amount of vapor phase analyte to be trapped in the sorbent material. This can be problematic when employing a mobile collection device that has limited power. To desorb the analyte trapped in the sorbent material for subsequent analysis, the tube needs be heated to a sufficient temperature for a sufficient amount of time. Due to the packed bed geometry, high temperatures and longer desorption times are necessary to efficiently desorb the trapped analyte.
In certain types of analytes, the high temperatures can cause destruction of some or all of the analyte resulting in inaccurate and inefficient analysis of the sample of analyte. Furthermore, it is cumbersome and time consuming to collect multiple samples since it requires manual switching of individual tubes after each sample and/or analysis. A diffusive sampler does not require pumps but is slow in sample collection and is constantly exposed to the environment such that not useful spatial and temporal data with respect to target analytes can be achieved.